But despite this, Taiwan's foreign ministry has complained that official data and prevention methods it has provided to the World Health Organisation (WHO) are not being shared with the international body's member states.

Taiwan introduced harsh penalties for those breaking home quarantine, introducing fines of up to $53,000.

"About 58 per cent of all confirmed cases in Taiwan were believed to have resulted from local transmission," Benjamin J Cowling, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Hong Kong, wrote in the New York Times.

"This is an important marker of success for Taiwan's containment strategy: In many other places, local cases outnumbered imported infections by a far greater margin."

Taiwan has earned praise for its effective approach to combatting COVID-19 while allowing normal life to continue.(AP: Chiang Ying-ying)

The TAIPEI Act also reiterates Washington's commitment to advocate for Taiwan's full inclusion in international organisations such as WHO.

Life in much of China is slowly returning to normal.(AP: Ju Peng via Xinhua)

Eric Li-Luan Chu, a former mayor of New Taipei City and a prominent figure in the Chinese Nationalist Party, wrote in February "it is time for the WHO to put politics aside and think about what is good for world health".

For Mr Sung, the potential consequences of coronavirus extend far beyond public health.

"Taiwan as one of the liberal democracies in Asia … has been doing exceptionally well on the containment of coronavirus," he said.

"If the Trump administration fails spectacularly once again … it will deal quite a bad blow to Western liberal democracy."

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